Portable oil well drilling apparatus



June 9, 1964 H. J. wooLsLAYl-:R ETAL 3,136,394

PORTABLE OIL WELL DRILLING APPARATUS 6 Sheets-snee?l l Filed Dec. 9, 1960 ATTQQ/VEKS 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 H. J. WOOLSLAYER ETAL PORTABLE OIL WELL DRILLING APPARATUS INVENToRs Hoa/EQ J. WaaMnf-:Q 55M JENA/W5 Mam/mww June 9, 1964 Filed Dec. 9, 1960 O l N w) mw m. ww -Q r mm, uw# Bw mm1 .mu \m, n mm G G v o o In w m o @n l Nm l l lv mw o ww@ Nw Q 5% QN N Nm. QW wm n?. mw k v NN /V mv. R Q wm R n.

June 9, 1964 H. J. wooLsLAYER ETAL 3,136,394

PORTABLE oIL WELL DRILLING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 9. 1960 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 M AMMZMJ June 9, 1964 H. .1. wooLsLAYER ETAL 3,136,394

PORTABLE OIL WELL DRILLING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 9, 1960 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 j L N, 'SD A A Y @MIL/MMV June 9, 1964 H. 1. wooLsLAYER ETAL 3,136,394

PORTABLE oIL WELL DRILLING APPARATUS 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Dec. 9, 1960 ww www @www u* INVENToRs Haw@ J. wazsuVf-'Q cac/L JENA/#v5 342 if f/ A TTOP/VE 5 June 9, 1964 H. J. wooLsLAYr-:R l-:TAL 3,136,394

PORTABLE OIL WELL DRILLING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 9. 1960 6 shee-hee 6' United Statesg Patent a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Dec. 9, 1960, Ser. No. 74,869 9 Claims. ((1189-11) This invention relates to trailer mounted oil well drilling equipment, and more particularly to means for trans-' porting the equipment and setting it up foroperation.Y

Trailer mounted oil well drilling masts are becoming more and more popular because it is so much easier and. cheaper to erect them, Vtake them down and carry them to new locations than to use trucks and trailers merely as transportation vehicles, from which the masts have to be unloaded at every drilling site. It also is desirable to carry the drawworks on the same trailer as a mast, but heretofore the drawworks has been permanently mounted at a low level on the trailer, which is undesirable be-A cause it limits the distance the rotary table can be spaced from the ground.` Moreover, as the masts become taller and the drawworks heavier, the trailer loads become so heavy, that they often cannot be transported over public roads because of highway load restrictions. In such cases a mast may have to occupy one trailerwhile the drawworks is carried by another trailer, with each trailer hauled by a different tractor.l On the other hand, there are situations, such as on cross-country hauls or over desert roads, where the mast and drawworks could be carried on the same trailer, regardless of weight, thereby simplifying the transportation problem and materially reducing its cost. Y

' It is among the objects ofthis invention to provide portable oil well drilling apparatus, in which -a mast and drawworks are mounted on the same trailer and maybe transported by it, in which the mast may readily be transferred from that trailer to another trailer when necessary for lightening the load, and in which the drawworks can be raised vfrom a low position on the trailer to a high position at the level of the floor of a tall substructure.V

, In-accordance with this invention a semitrailer frame haswheels at its rear end and a king pin at its rfront end. A4 dolly supports the front end of the frame and is provided with means detachablyreceiving the king pin. Means are provided for detachably connecting the front end of the dolly tothe fifth wheel of a tractor for pull ing the dolly and trailer together. Mounted on the rear end of the trailer frame is aI-mast support, to whichthe rear end of a reclining mast is detachably hinged. lThe frame has -a drawworks-receiving 'area `in .front ofV the ICC on the links to an elevated horizontal position, where the unit is locked in place during drilling of the well.

The preferred embodiment of the inventionis illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side Viewl of our drilling apparatus ready for hauling as a single unit;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary side view showing the mast and drawworks in operative position;

. FIG. 3 is a side view-of the apparatus showing the mast transferred from the trailer to the dolly; Y FIG. 4 is a side viewof the mast being hauled on the dolly;

FIG. 5 by another tractor;

- FIG. 6 is an enlarged plan view of the dolly connected is a side view of the mastless trailer being hauled to the fifth wheel of a tractor;

FIG. 7 is a side view of he dolly and rear end of the tractor; v Y FIG. 8 is an enlarged fragmentary the mast supports on the dolly; FIG. 9 is a fragmentary plan view of the extended;` FIG. 10 is an enlarged fragmentary side view of the trailer with the'drawworks in its upper position; FIGS. l1; 12 vand 13 are verticalsections taken on the lines XI-XI, XII-XII and XIII-XIIL respectively of FIG. 10; f Y

FIG. 14 is aview'of the rear end of the trailer; and

l FIG.. 15 isa fragmentary plan view of the trailer.

Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawings, a semitrailer frame 1, preferably with its central portion depressed to provide as low a center of gravity as possible, has its rear end supported by tandem Wheels 2. The front end of the trailer frame is supported by` a dolly 3 ,thatlikewise includes tandem wheels 4. The connection between the trailer and dolly maybe by means of a fifth wheel dolly tongue 5, which may be `mounted on either the dolly or the trailer without affecting this invention. It Vis shown mounted on the dolly with the trailer king pin 5a eX tending down into it. The *dolly includes. a forwardly extending gooseneck 6, having at itsy front end a crosstree7 provided with a central kingrpin 8 (FIGS. 6 and 7) extending down into a fifthwheel-.9 on the back of mast support. The mast projects from the front end of the from the rear'mast support, the dolly has meansfor sup?v v porting the .n iastA With this V arrangement the tracton can pull either-the dolly-and trailer together, withgthel mast "and drawworks supported by'- the trailer, or .it

can pull the dolly alone,. with ..the;ma'st carried, bylthe" dolly. In thexlatter caserme', trailer may bep'ulled' by..

another tractor.` 'Frontend `rear links extend lengthwise" of theV trailer and have their frontv ends pivotally connected;-

on. transverseaxestothe frontand-rear ends, respectively,

of the drawworks units resting on the -v-trailer frame. The" rear ends-ofthelinks are pivotallyconnected on transversey axes to the trailer at Vlongitudinally spaced points. Means."

are provided for yswinging the drawworks unit f upward a tractorl l10. Here again the fifth wheel andI pin ycan be reversed if desired. The gooseneck may carry a wire line storage. spool 11; It willbe seen that the tractor vpulls what amounts towtwo semi-.trailers arrangedflin tandem. l I The dollycan be located farther behind 4the tractor, asl shown .in FIG4 by inserting aseparate tongue 'between Vc 'rosstfree 7 andthe goosenec'lg` or,l as shown in FIGS. v6

and 9, bymiginauy prqvidipg the deny-with@ tongue 13k rigidly connected at its front end to. the center of thel 'v c r'osstree.` The tongue is telescoped in thev goosemieok,l

such as in a sleevell` rigidly mounted :the front-en dzof,`

the gooseneck. The fgooseneck haslforwardly projecting brackets 15 that are connectedly removable pins 16 to v lugs `517 on the backl of 'the croSs'beam. When the pins are'removed andtheutractor moved ahead -topul1 the tongue forward in .sleeveY 1Y4,Ythedolly and tractor can be spaced the desired distanceapart Ibyvjizns'erting ampiln` 18 I' through the front end of the sleeve into one Vof a series,

v Y of holes 1 9.through rthe tongue, asshown i11.EIG.9. .ff

, 10, 13, 14 and 15, includes a row offv'yertical columns:

v 24between inclined posts 25,- in, front4 ofVv the." vertical col; umn s,'side braces 2 6con`n`ecting. the tops .of the post svvith'l columns 22, braces ZTconnectingrthe inclined'colimnsf across beam 2-conne`cting theupper. ends lofthe verti- Rigidlyrnonntedron .the.,b-ack` of the trailer over its wheels ais aup`e1rstrutune`21,which, as shown in; FIGS.

22 and 2,3 across ythe backofthe trailer, inclined columns rear view of one of l in front of its depressed lcentral portion.

f nion 59 extending through the frame.

cal columns, and box beams 29 extending rearwardly from the inclined columns and rigidly mounted on blocks 30 secured to the top of cross beam 28. Projecting rearwardly from columns 22 and cross beam 28 is a support for a rotarytable 32, the support including parallel beams 33 and 34 connected at their outer ends by a rear beam 35. The rotary table is mounted on beams 34. Secured to the top of the side beams 33 are mast-receieving shoes 36. The rear end of the table support is adapted to be connected by removable pins 37 with a separate substructure 38 resting o n the ground, as shown in FIG. 2. When that occurs, the bottom of the substructure maybe connected by links `39 with pads 40 that support jacks 41 carried by the lower ends of vertical columns 22 in order to Vtake the load off the trailer wheels.

As Vshown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a reclining mast l45 has its feet pivotally mounted in shoes 36 and extends forward over the trailer and dolly. It will usually be a telescoped mast, in which the upper section extends through the major portion of the lower section in a well known manner. The mast is supported substantially horizontally by a central support 46 mounted on the trailer Hinged by pins 47 to the upper ends of inclined columns 24, shown in FIGS. 10, 12, and 15, are the feet of a reclining gin pole48thatextends backward-therefrom across the rotary table and projects from the rear end of the trailer. The top or rear end of the gin pole is provided with a pair of sheaves 49. In this specification the front and back of the different elements are described relative to the front and back of the trailer.

Resting on the central part of the trailer frame yduring transportation is a drawworks unit 51, which includes a drawworks 52 and its operating engine 53 mounted on a oor 54 secured to a framework 55. As shown in FIGS. and ll, the front end of the framework is pivotally connected by transverse pins 57 to the front or upper ends of a pair of links 58 that extend backward along the outside of the trailer frame and have their rear ends pivotally mounted on the projecting ends of a trun- The rear end of the drawworks framework supportsupwardly extending bars 61, the upper ends of which are connected by pivot pins 62 tothe front or upper ends of a pair of links 63 that extend back over the trailer and have their rear ends pivotally connected to brackets 64 mounted on the trailer frame over the wheels. These two rear links are braced by suitable cross braces 65 and diagonal braces 66 to form a rigid unit as shown in FIGS. 12 and 13.

`In FIG. 1 of the drawings the complete drilling rig is mounted on `the trailer, which is attached to the dolly. The dolly is connected to the tractor for pulling the dolly and trailer as a unit. YThe parts shown in full lines are ready Vfor transportation as a single loadv or, if the outt has just arrived at a new drilling site, it is ready` to be connected to a substructure. Before that is done, the jacks 41 Vat the back of the trailer are run down onto the pads 40 on` the ground to take the load off theback wheels as shown in FIG. 2, and another jacking mech-v anism 68 directly in front ofthe drawworks unit is operated `to press against the ground and thereby raise the trailer slightly to bear the weight of itsfront end. The rotary-table support thenis connectedVr by pins 37 to substructure 38, which is also connected by links 39 tov the rear pads 40.5V

The nextV step is to *extend the mast forward, which'.l may b e done in'any conventional manner. With the drilling line 70 strung'on the crown block 71and the traveling block 72, and with the fast line connected to drawworks 52, the traveling block is'hooked 4onto a sling 73k that extends `back and ldown around sheaves, 49 at the rear end of the gin pole and then forward to the heel of the mast. By operating the drawworks, the travelingY blockwill pull `the sling` and swing the gin pole up to its to the gin pole for support as shown in FIG. 2.

zontal.

. rollers 83 that receive the lower legs of the mast.

upper position after it has been pushed up above horizontal position, as shown in dotted lines in FIG. l. The pole will be stopped in correct elevated position by a tension member '74. Continued operation of the drawworks will therefore cause the sling to swing the mast up in a well known manner toward and past the gin pole to an upright position, where it will be rigidly connected If'the effort required to raise the mast tends to lift the drawworks unit from the trailer frame, the drawworks should be bolted down to the trailer temporarily. Y

After the mast has been erected, the traveling block is lowered in the mast and sling 73 is disconnected from the mast and directed down around the back of a pair of sheaves 76 mounted on top of cross beam 28 of superstructure 21 on the trailer. From there the sling is extended forward and connected with the drawworks unit, preferably to front links 58 a short distance from their front ends. Upon operating the drawworks again, the traveling block is elevated to pull the sling up into the mast and'thereby swing links 58 and 63 upward and back toward the superstructure as shown in FIG. 2. Of course, this will lift the drawworks unit. At the same timeV the pull of the drawworks on the fast line will help vto lift the unit. relative to each other that when the drawworks unit reaches its upper position its framework 55 will be hori- The rear end of the framework then is connected' to brackets 77 projecting from inclined columns 2 4 as shown in FIGS. 10 and 12. This will hold the drawworks unit up, but to brace it there a brace is inserted between the front end of its framework and the front portion of the trailer. A stairway 78 (FIG. 2) that is used for reaching the floor of the drawworks unit can be used as this brace. In its upper position, the drawworks floor is at the level of the superstructure and substructure oors (not shown), in a position suitable for driving the rotary table.

Following-completion of drilling, the erection steps recited above are reversed to lower the drawworks unit onto the trailer and toswing the mast and gin pole back down to their reclining positions. The rig is now ready to be taken to another location by tractor 10. However, if the weight of the loadis too great for a single load on the road that must be traveled, the load can be split up between the d olly and the trailer. This is done, asshown in FIG. 3, by first disconnecting the feet of the mast from shoes 36, and then tilting down the front end ofthe reclining mast to rock it on central support 46 and shift it therefrom to a support o n the dolly 3. The tilting can be accomplished by a short line 80 connected to the' mast above the tractor and extending downto a winch 81 on the tractor.

As shown in detail in FIGS. 6, 7 and 8, the mast support on the dolly consists of two upwardly and rearwardly curved arms 82, the upper ends of which support The reclining mast is provided with a Vpair of downwardly extending supports 85 that are pinned to brackets 86 on the opposite ends ofthe dolly crosstree 7 after the mast has been tilted onto rollers 83. After making this connection the gooseneck ofthe dolly is disconnected -from the crosstree and the tractor is driven ahead'to extend tongue 13 and simultaneously pull the mast forward on its supporting rollers so that it will be balanced better on thetractor and dolly vandV not project too far from the back of the dolly. The gooseneck then is fastened to thel extended tongue by pin 18, and the mast isclamped onto roller 83 by links 87 pivoted to supporting arms82 as indicated inFIG.; 8. Then the dolly can be pulled forward to remove it from the trailer s o that the 'tractorv and dolly can carry the mastjalone to a new location, v as shown `in FIG. 4. As shown in FIG. 5,`anothe'r tractor 88 is connected to the front endL of i the trailer, which likef;

Wise is hauled to the new location. Since the trailer The links are of such lengthV and so arranged and transportation from one location to another.

carries only the drawworks unit and not the mast, .it will not be too heavy for the road. At the new drilling site the transfer steps just recited may be reversed in order to disconnect the mast from the tractor 'andy dolly and reconnect it to shoes 36 at the back of the trailer. The mast then can be erected as previously described.

It will be seen that with this apparatus a great deal of time and expense can be saved in rigging-up, taking down, The costs of such operations often are a major expense in oil well drilling today, so the industry is greatly interested in anything that will reduce that expense. The apparatus disclosed herein can eii`ect large savings.

According to the provisions of the patent statutes, we have explained the principle of our invention and have illustrated and described what we now consider to represent its best embodiment. However, we desire to have it understood that, within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustrated and described.

We claim:

l. Portable oil Well drilling apparatus comprising a semi-trailer frame having wheels at its rear end and a king pin at its front end, a dolly supporting the front end of the frame and provided with means detachably receiving said pin, means for detachably connecting the front end of the dolly to the fifth wheel of a tractor for pulling the dolly and trailer, a mast support mounted on the rear end of said frame, a reclining mast extending lengthwise of the trailer and projecting from its frontend, means detachably hinging the rear end of the mast to said support, the trailer frame having a drawworks-receiving area in front of said support, a central support mounted on said frame infront of said area to support the reclining mast, a front support in front of the trailer frame for detachably connecting the reclining mast with said fifth wheel when it is desired to pull the dolly and mast without the trailer, and means on the dolly for supporting the mast when the mast is detached from said rear mast support. v

2. Portable oil well drilling apparatus according to claim l, including a tongue for increasing the length of the dolly when the mast is being carried by the dolly.

3. Portable oil well drilling apparatus according to claim l, in which last-mentionedv means extend upward past opposite sides of the overlying trailer frame in spaced lateral relation therewith. K

4. Portable oil well drilling apparatus according to claim l, in which said central support is high enough to space the reclining mast from said last-mentioned means while the mast isr hinged to said rear support.

5. Portable oil well drilling apparatus comprising a semi-trailer frame having wheels at it rear end and a king pin at it front end, a dolly supporting the front end of the frame and provided with mean detachably receiving said pin, means including a cross beam for detachably connecting the front end of the dolly to the fifthl wheel 'of a tractor for pulling the dolly and trailer, a mast support mounted on the rear end of said frame, a reclining mast extending lengthwise of the trailer and projecting from its front endjmeans detachably hinging ythe rear end of the mast to said support, the trailer frame having a vdrawworks-receiving area in vfront ofk said support, a

central support mounted on said kframe in front'of said area to support the reclining mast, a front support secured to the reclining mast in front of the trailer frame and extending downward froml the mast, brackets mounted on the opposite ends of said cross beam, rneansv v for detachably connecting said fron-t support to said brackets when the Vmast is detached Vfrom said rear mast support, and means on the dolly for supporting the mast when the mast is detached from said rear support.V j

6. Portabley oil well drilling apparatus comprising a semi-trailer .frame having wheels at its' rear end and a king pin at its front end, yla, dolly supporting the front 6 end of the frame .and provided .withmeans detachably receiving said pin, a tongue` telescoped in the dolly, a connecting member secured to the front end of the tongue` for detachably connecting it to the lifth wheel of a tractor, meansdetachably connectingthe front end of the dolly to said member, means for securing the dolly to the tongue when the dollyis disconnected from said member, a mast support mounted on the rear end of said frame, a reclining mast extending lengthwise of the trailer and projecting from its front end, means detachably hinging the rear end ofthe mast to said support, the trailer frame having a drawworks-receiving area in front of said support, a central support mounted on said frame in front of said area to support the reclining mast, a front support in front of the trailer frame for detachably connecting the reclining mast with said connecting member when it is desired to pull the dolly and mast without the trailer, and means on the dolly for supporting the mast when the mast is detached from said rearl mast support.

7. Portable oil well drilling apparatus according to claim 6, in which said connecting member is a cross beam provided with a central king pin on its bottom and brackets on its top for receiving said front supports'.

8. Portable oil well drilling apparatus comprising a semi-trailer frame having wheels at its rear end and a king pin at its front end, a dolly supporting the frontend of the frame andprovided with means detachably receiving said pin, means for detachably connecting the front end of the dolly to the fifth wheel of a tractor for pulling the dolly and trailer, Va mast support mounted on thet rear end of said frame, a reclining mast extending lengthwise of the trailer and projecting from its front end, means detachably hinging the rear end of the mast to said support, the trailer frame having a drawworks-receiving area in front of said support, a central support mounted on said frame in front of said area to support the reclining mast, a front support in'front'of the trailer frame for detachably connecting the reclining mast with said fifth wheel when it is desired to pull the dolly and mast without the trailer, and means on the dolly for supporting thet mast whenit is detached from said rear mast support, said last-mentioned means including mast-supporting rollers and means for detachably connecting a mast resting on said rollers to the underlying supporting means.

9. Portable oil well drilling apparatus comprising a semi-trailer frame having wheels at its rear end and a king pin at its lfront end, a dolly supporting the front end of the frame and provided with means detachably receiving said pin, means for detachably connecting the front end of the dolly to thefifth wheely of a tractor for pulling the doly and trailer, a mast support mounted on thte rear end of said` frame, a reclining mast extending lengthwise of the trailer and projecting from its front end, v

means detachably hinging the rear end of the mast to said support, a central support mounted on the forward part `ofsaid frame to support the reclining mast, a drawworks said unit respectively, means pivotallyconnecting the rear ends of the links on la transverse axis to the trailer at longitudinally spaced points, means yfor swinging said unit upward on the links to an' elevated position after the mast has beenraised, the linksbeing of a length to hold y the elevated unit substantially'horizontal, means for locking the unit in saidelevatedV position, a front support in front of the trailer frame for detachably connecting the reclining mast with said fifthawheel 'when it is desired to pull the dolly and mast without the trailer vand drawworksunit, and means on the dolly for supporting the mast when the mast is detached from saidfrear mast support.

(References. on `following page) References Cited in thele of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Selberg ---1.2 May 6, 1952 8 Jenkins et al Apr. 2, 1957 Moore Aug. 12, 1958 lHoffer June 5, 1960 Bender Dec. 13, 1960 Gregg May 2, 1961 Bender July v25, 1961 

1. PORTABLE OIL WELL DRILLING APPARATUS COMPRISING A SEMI-TRAILER FRAME HAVING WHEELS AT ITS REAR END AND A KING PIN AT ITS FRONT END, A DOLLY SUPPORTING THE FRONT END OF THE FRAME AND PROVIDED WITH MEANS DETACHABLY RECEIVING SAID PIN, MEANS FOR DETACHABLY CONNECTING THE FRONT END OF THE DOLLY TO THE FIFTH WHEEL OF A TRACTOR FOR PULLING THE DOLLY AND TRAILER, A MAST SUPPORT MOUNTED ON THE REAR END OF SAID FRAME, A RECLINING MAST EXTENDING LENGTHWISE OF THE TRAILER AND PROJECTING FROM ITS FRONT END, MEANS DETACHABLY HINGING THE REAR END OF THE MAST TO SAID SUPPORT, THE TRAILER FRAME HAVING A DRAWWORKS-RECEIVING AREA IN FRONT OF SAID SUPPORT, A CENTRAL SUPPORT MOUNTED ON SAID FRAME IN FRONT OF SAID AREA TO SUPPORT THE RECLINING MAST, A FRONT SUPPORT IN FRONT OF THE TRAILER FRAME FOR DETACHABLY CONNECTING THE RECLINING MAST WITH SAID FIFTH WHEEL WHEN IT IS DESIRED TO PULL THE DOLLY AND MAST WITHOUT THE TRAILER, AND MEANS ON THE DOLLY FOR SUPPORTING THE MAST WHEN THE MAST IS DETACHED FROM SAID REAR MAST SUPPORT. 